2009-01-30

Collars up

[H]aikara was just one of many similar Ishikawa-isms. His work lampooned not only the Haikara Party (ハイカラア党) and their allies the Necktie Party (ネクタイ党) but also their conservative enemies: the Pistol Party (ピストル党) and the Chonmage Party (チヨム髷党). None of these other words, Ishikawa admitted in a later memoir, caught on. So why did haikara?

無名酒:

Sanetomo was haikara? In what aspects and from who's point of view? Admittedly, I don't know the man's poetry that well, but you'd think that from the court's point of view, he'd be rather, well, not haikara.

(And, I fully believe, not from the point of view of some of the people living in Kamakura. Of course, those might only be those who decided to move from Kyoto for their careers, like the onmyoji and some secretaries....)

無名酒:

Well, I might not agree on the style issue, but I'm glad it's not the warrior-poet aspect for him. Because, not that special, really. (I mean, half of the tragic episodes of the <i>Heike</i> for cripes' sake.)

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A blog about Japanese language, literature, culture, and art by Matt Treyvaud. (More)